I've always had Mayweather top 3 in defense, but i have him #1 now!!

Locche top 5 for sure. Toney probably top 10-15.

 

RJJ is up there too, Mayweather tops them simply due to consistency. RJJ at his peak though arguably had better defense than Floyd. Once RJJ got KO'd once, Floyd automatically moved ahead of him if you are just talking about defense specifically. But yeah at one point both he and Naz were tougher to hit clean than Floyd ever was.

But over the course of an entire career and length of career (compared to Naz - # of fights) Floyd edges him out. But Floyd only wins due to consistency and longevity, not ever having lost, etc.

 

I like the way Pep looked in his highlight clips. If he was really that hard to hit against good fighters I'd give it to him. I'm only cautious because I've only seen highlights. You should see my highlight reel

 

Disagree that there was ever a time Naz was harder to hit clean. Alicea put him down, Kelley put him down 3 times, Augie put him down, Soto hit him clean.

 

Roy Jones was hard to hit because he was so athletic, and naturally gifted with the speed, and reflexes, and he had power to make you think twice. If you watch even his prime era fights
he would get hit with stuff that boxing defense can stop. His defense wasn't very good on the ropes either. He would sometimes cover up, and eat punches then land something that makes the guy stand down

 

Zab Judah.

 

Pep and Whitaker were better IMAO. Also some of the aggressive fighters like Duran should get credit for being able to avoid punches while coming forward. Floyd is/was really good though don't get me wrong.

 

True, but on that same Token many people have hit Floyd clean. Pac hit him clean on Saturday, Maidana hit him clean, and he has pretty slow hands. DLH hit him clean, especially in the first half when he was using the jab. I guess what I am saying is there are certain fights where Naz had amazing defense and he did it with upper body movement, upper body movement where he would (at times) consistently make guys miss and make them look silly. Floyd doesn't use too much upper body movement, which arguably requires more skill and coordination.

 

True, but a lot of those Naz fights weren't against top quality opposition. And Naz is one of my all time favorites. In his best win he was put down 3 times officially (you could argue only 2 should have counted).